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Health Issues Associated With Smoking And How To Prevent Them

Though you can't avoid all health issues that come with smoking, there are still ways to curb the damage.

Cigarette smoking accounts for more than 480,000 deaths annually in the United States. This is almost one in every five deaths. No wonder that smokers are interested in ways to reduce the health risks of this harmful habit. Unfortunately, most of them either don’t work or increase the chances of physical consequences.

Often, tobacco consumers even don’t realize how much harm they do to their body and those who do find it extremely difficult to quit. Unfortunately, there’s no magic remedy or technique that can make a person free of nicotine addiction in the snap of a finger.

Vaping seems to be the most effective tool for battling smoking. Former and current smokers make up a large part of vape shop customers. They buy various vape devices and vape juice flavors at Vapingdaily. But is it really helpful or is it an auxiliary method? Let’s find it out.

How Smoking Affects Your Body

It’s clear that smokers face more health risks than non-smokers. These include:

Higher risks of heart disease and stroke.

Being more likely to get cancer in nearly any part of the body.

Worse bone health. That increases the risk of breaking bones.

An increased risk of cataracts.

Frequent problems with teeth and gums.

A weaker immune system.

A higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes.

A less functional reproductive system. Women have a harder time getting pregnant, and men affect their sperm. Smoking harms a baby before and after birth. It increases the risks of preterm delivery, ectopic pregnancy, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome.

How To Reduce the Health Issues Linked with Smoking

All the methods that can lower the harm caused by smoking are based on altering an individual's smoking behavior and boosting motivation to quit. Here they are...

Stop smoking cold turkey.

Yes, this is the best way to avoid the harm caused by the nicotine, tar, and other poisonous chemicals. Consider how tobacco affects your life: health, appearance, lifestyle, and family. And are there any benefits? The answer is obvious: NO.

Once you take your last puff and throw away a cigarette butt, your healthier life will begin. Look how your body will benefit from smoking cessation just in two days:

In 24 hours, the body and lungs start to clear out mucus and debris. The chance of heart attack is already decreasing.

In 36 hours, nerve endings which contribute to the senses of smell and taste killed by cigarette toxins begin to regenerate.

After 48 hours, nicotine is no longer in your body, and your senses are improved.

Research!

Smokers that have no immediate intention of quitting or have been unable to do so can follow another approach: find out the real cost of smoking.

While smokers have some knowledge that tobacco consumption is harmful, this knowledge is often quite poor. We’ve already mentioned the significant threats of tobacco smoking, but doing more in-depth research is advisable.

Watch how the lungs of a smoker look in the video above. Scary, isn't it? Watching videos that show the deterioration smoking causes in the body will strengthen your motivation to quit much better than reading about it. It’s a kind of shock therapy.

Find a calculator (there’s a lot of them on the net) and calculate how much money you’ve already wasted on your habit and how much you can save. You’ll be amazed at the numbers.

Pick up an alternative.

It has been scientifically proven to be less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

It can help quit tobacco forever.

Nicotine gums and patches are not as useful as e-cigarettes. They both deliver nicotine to the user, but only vaping mimics the process of smoking. People don’t feel uncomfortable due to the abrupt loss of the habit.

Vaping doesn’t involve combustion and smoke. Vape liquid is heated, and the user inhales vapor which is practically free of the toxins present in smoke.

The range of vape flavors is endless. Awful tobacco smell is no longer a problem. Vaping liquids come in different nicotine strengths ranging from 3mg to 36mg.

Some manufacturers also produce nicotine-free liquids. So, a smoker can gradually lessen the level of nicotine until he or she becomes free of the addiction.

Perform physical activity.

The value of exercise is that it assists smokers with managing both the physical and psychological symptoms of nicotine addiction. It’s known to ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Even a moderate physical activity can reduce the cravings for a cigarette.

Withdrawal symptoms and cravings decrease during exercising and for 50 minutes afterward. Aim for half an hour of physical activity on most days of the week. Of course, it may be difficult to start exercising after years of sedentary life and smoking. Walking is a way to start out. Gradually lengthen your distances and speed up the pace.

Why Cutting Down Isn’t Recommended

Cutting down the number of cigarettes smoked every day or switching to cigarettes with lower levels of tar and nicotine may decrease the harm caused by smoking. It can also help people eventually stop smoking. However, this approach may have the opposite effect.

If smoking is just a habit to a person, low tar and nicotine cigarettes will possibly be less dangerous. But if a person is addicted to nicotine, smoking such a cigarette won’t help to meet the required dose of nicotine. The smoker may use techniques to make up for the lack, like smoking more cigarettes, inhaling smoke more deeply, or holding it in for longer.

By using one or few of these patterns, the smoker can reach those levels of nicotine the body is used to. But at the same time, the amount of other intoxicating chemicals may surpass the usual amount delivered by his previous cigarette brand. Thereby, the risks associated with these chemicals also increase.